I didn’t know it at the time, but this past Monday I did my final guest report for Drive Home host Scott Thompson at Hamilton’s all-news radio station CHML. They wanted a TV commentator to talk about CBC’s Olympic coverge and ratings. I was moving stuff out of storage that day — a hold over
If only this was really the world. This was the view from our living room as the Games of the 2024 Olympics wrapped in Paris. The Olympic ideal seems so far removed from the fractured state of planet Earth, politically, environmentally and on so many other levels. Hats off to France and their Olympic organizers
You might say Japan is having a pop culture moment. From the multi-Emmy award-nominated drama Shogun (all episodes available on Disney+) to a steady stream of utterly bizarre Japanese contestants on America’s Got Talent, Japan is everywhere this year. If you’ve got a hankering for a little TV sushi, I have some other suggestions from
About two hours northeast of Toronto stands a movie palace carved out of cedars and mosquitos. There are more theatre seats in the five screening rooms in this homemade multiplex than there are people in the small town where it exists, Kinmount, Ontario. Yet, from May through October, every summer for 40 years, families from
In the past few weeks, I’ve posted a couple of “From the Vault” episodes over at brioux.tv: the podcast. One featured a 2014 interview with Bill Daily talking about his boss on The Bob Newhart Show; the other was another 2014 interview, this time with WKRP in Cincinnati creator Hugh Wilson. I’ve done others in
Hugh Wilson talked his way into a job at MTM Enterprises at just the right time. When he arrived in the early ’70s, they were busy making sitcom history with The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Bob Newhart Show. Wilson, who had no prior TV experience, could often be found up in the rafters, taking a crash
Stronger, faster, higher — artier. The opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 was an artistic triumph, a master class in dazzling outdoor sight and sound. It had to be less fun for the tens of thousands of onlookers positioned for six to eight hours along the River Seine, as well as the 6800
Back in 1995, during my days writing for TV Guide Canada, I had a memorable encounter with Faye Dunaway. At the time, the Academy Award-winning actress had a reputation for being difficult; certainly on a set during a production but also in exchanges with reporters. “Good luck,” I was warned after landing the assignment. My